Germany, Switzerland lift ban; here is the list of nations Indians can visit now

Germany’s premier health agency has eased its travel restrictions and lifted a ban on travellers from India, the UK and three other countries, who had been hit by the Delta variant of COVID-19. This relaxation by the health authority comes after research has shown that vaccines are reportedly effective against the Delta variant, said media reports.

Earlier, the Switzerland embassy lifted travel restrictions and Indians fully vaccinated with Covishield can now travel to their country. The Embassy of Switzerland in New Delhi is currently accepting “all visa categories for persons coming from third countries such as India…who can prove that they have been fully vaccinated,” the embassy said.

Meanwhile, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), which is a German federal government agency tasked with disease control and prevention, has downgraded India, Russia, Nepal, Portugal and the UK  from a more stricter ‘areas of variant concern’ category to ‘high-incidence areas’.

Travellers from high-incidence areas like India and UK have to observe a 10-day quarantine period after they enter the country and they also have to produce a negative test on arrival. Moreover, they can end this quarantine after five days with another negative test.

Also read: 5 million Britons took Covishield; now they’re barred from visiting Europe

Countries where Indians can travel to

Meanwhile, Indians can travel to Russia, Serbia, Costa Rica, Egypt, Ghana, South Africa, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Albania provided they have a negative PT-PCR.

Turkey requires a negative RT-PCR test report and a mandatory 14-day quarantine for anyone travelling from India. South Korea too has lifted the travel ban on India and done away with the mandatory two-week quarantine for those vaccinated with both the doses of Covishield vaccine.

The US however still has not lifted its travel ban on India but those who have students’ visa allowed into the country. Some other national interest exception categories are also allowed to travel.